


Nothing

by Mike_H



Series: Finding Inspiration Prompt Challenge [5]
Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Romance
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-10
Updated: 2021-01-10
Packaged: 2021-03-14 09:34:30
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 432
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28668561
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mike_H/pseuds/Mike_H
Summary: Prompt:Mental bond(selected byFinfromthis post).
Relationships: Senju Tobirama/Uchiha Madara
Series: Finding Inspiration Prompt Challenge [5]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2049150
Comments: 17
Kudos: 56





	Nothing

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Bennie133](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Bennie133/gifts).



> Prompt: _Mental bond_ (selected by **[Fin](https://archiveofourown.org/users/midnightfeast/pseuds/midnightfeast)** from **[this post](https://jupiterjames.tumblr.com/post/148863222746/i-love-reading-fics-about-opts-having-mental-bonds)** ).

"You ever wonder what it's like?"

Madara says this, staring up at the sky. Tobirama looks at him, watches the pale column of his throat, the motion of his Adam's apple, the way firelight casts shadows upon the sharp planes of his face.

"Up there," Madara says. "All that unused space."

Tobirama's gaze does not wander. Above them, the sky would be a blanket of stars. It could be endless dark. He does not care. He'd rather watch Madara, leaning against a log, arm pillowed upon his raised knee. He looks old and young all at once. Like the stars, he seems faraway. Distant, unreachable, so fucking _close._

"I wonder what it'll feel like," Madara says. "Being nothing."

  


* * *

  


Madara is the farthest thing from nothing.

This is all he is — blood and breath and bone, his heart that beats beats beats within the confines of his chest, like an animal raging against the prison of his ribs.

Madara is… _raw._ Imperfect. Unfinished.

Tobirama can't tear his gaze away. It's like looking at art. Like a book with no ending. Madara is abrupt lines and pauses where they don't make sense. Unpredictable, yet no one knows him the way Tobirama does.

He watches Madara from across the fire. Thinks him mesmerizing like this — dark and light and contemplative.

And Madara turns to look at him.

Tobirama stares, open, unflinching.

Madara averts his gaze. His hair, a shield. "Why do you look at me like that?"

Tobirama feels the corner of his mouth lift. It's not a smile, not quite. But it isn't nothing either. "Like what?" He doesn't have to ask. He knows — would always know — what Madara means. But he asks anyway, if only to hear the sound of Madara's voice.

Madara huffs. His eyes wander before he lifts his chin, meets Tobirama's gaze.

Tobirama thinks him stubborn, exposed. Thinks him beautiful.

"Like…" Madara falters. He is lost, determined, frustrating, endearing.

Tobirama can't — won't — stop looking at him. "I like looking at you." It is not a real answer but he knows — Madara would not have been expecting one.

He says this and — predictably — Madara turns his head. Says, "Idiot."

The smile playing upon Tobirama's lips is an unfamiliar thing. Even after all this time, it feels strange. The way his lips tilt upward like that, the way his mouth curves every time Madara does or says something that should mean nothing at all.

"You could never be nothing," Tobirama says.

Madara looks at him then. His eyes are startled, earnest. Then, a smile breaking across his face. It comes easily. Unpretentious.


End file.
